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Calling a person a fool |
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| Following an experience in hospital, I have begun to take an interest in the subject of Heaven, Hell and Salvation. I recently received an email from someone drawing my attention to Matthew 5:22, where Jesus states that calling someone a fool makes you liable to hell. This is a difficult passage, so I have dealt with it by developing two imaginary conversations. One with a non believer and the other with a seeker. |
First conversation |
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| Me: | You are liable to go to hell; | |
| He: | Why? | |
| Me: | Because of your sins. | |
| He: | But I have only small sins. | |
| Me: | You are still liable to go to hell - all sinners will go to hell. | |
| He: | You are a fool! | |
| Me: | That just demonstrates my point. | |
| He: | What do you mean? | |
| Me: | By calling me a fool you have just made yourself more
liable to go to hell. |
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| He: | Who says so? | |
| Me: | Scriptures says so. | |
| He: | Then Scripture is a fool. | |
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Conversation ends. I decide that my conversation with this poor fellow has been a
disaster and |
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Second conversation |
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| He: | There is a passage in the Bible that I find very difficult. | |
| Me: | Which passage? | |
| He: | Matthew 5: 22 Jesus says if you call someone a fool you
are liable of going to hell. That seems very harsh. Proverbs is full of words that call people fools. |
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| Me: | You have to understand what Jesus was saying in his own
time and why he is saying the same thing to us now. |
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| He: | Will you explain? | |
| Me: | Yes, but I will have to draw you to another passage in the
New Testament where Jesus also talks about Hell. |
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| He: | Which one is that? | |
| Me: | In Matthew 10:18 Jesus tells the disciple to fear God,
because He has the power to send them to Hell But note what He says afterwards and this may give you a clue to the passage you are having difficulty with. |
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| He: | What do you mean? | |
| Me: | In Matthew 10 Jesus is encouraging His disciples to go on
mission and warns them not to be put off by the opposition they will receive, but to be afraid of failing to use God's power. He goes on to say how much they are worth in God's eyes and He will continually watch over them. |
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| He: | How does this relate to the passage that I am having difficulty with? | |
| Me: | Well it shows that God is not only powerful - He is good.
We can tell he is good by looking at his creation. The beautiful landscapes, lakes, mountains and rivers are more majestic than our own constructions of concrete and steel. The flowers and birds are as beautiful as we are. But there are dangers all around us. As St Paul says 'The world is still groaning in creation'. The earth's plates are shifting, temperatures are changing, causing floods and upheavals on the land. And we are foolishly building houses in the wrong place and with the wrong materials. |
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| He: | You are calling people foolish. Are you not in danger of going to hell? | |
| Me: | I don't think so. | |
| He: | Why not? | |
| Me: | Look more closely at what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying
how much we are worth in God's eyes. Yet in Jesus' time. The religious leaders were doing much to damage the worth of people. Many people were excluded from worship as they were considered sinners through their occupation or state of health. Jesus through his teaching, hospitality and healing, did much to counteract this. |
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| He: | But you still haven't explained to me why calling a person
a fool should make them liable to hell? |
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| Me: | When you call a person a fool, you are labelling that
person as worthless. |
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| He: | But why send you to hell? Why not just tell you to stop doing it? | |
| Me: | That is just what the Bible says. God does not want anyone
to go to hell. |
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| He: | Then why have a hell? | |
| Me: | Not an easy question to answer. God as creator has to make some extremely finely honed decisions. If he makes an error, the universe explodes and creation is destroyed. It is only through his wisdom that we have an earth with life on it. He has already warned us through revelation that the earth will pass away and a new earth will appear which will truly be His Kingdom. He wants us to be part of that, but if we do not find Jesus, God, the Spirit or other people worth while, we have nothing to contribute to His Kingdom and we will need to be discarded. Hell is where we will be discarded to. | |
| He: | I think I am beginning to understand. So Proverbs is
teaching people to be more worthwhile and discouraging us from being foolish |
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| Me: | Yes | |
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Bruce October 16th 2005 |
